Let freedom rock: Ten musical moments that shaped who we are as a country

Bill Clinton rocks out on The Arsenio Hall Show (June 3, 1992)
Clinton is often called the first black president of the United States, at least until Barack Obama possibly claims that title officially in November. His guest appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show while still a presidential candidate helped solidify this image; he showed he had a bit of soul in him by playing "Heartbreak Hotel" on his saxophone.

Green Day reminds America its rock stars used to have balls (September 21, 2004)
It's not as though protest rock had completely vanished from the musicverse by 2004, but it had certainly been a long time since anybody had been able to get rich recording it. Green Day changed all that when they released their magnum opus, American Idiot, a rock opera that struggled to make sense of post-9/11 America even as Americans were struggling to make sense of how, two months after the album's release, George W. Bush had been re-elected. Two years later, things were back to normal and pop music had once again become irreverent and irrelevant.